Pitching machines are widely used by both professional and non-professional athletes for batting practice. Conventional pitching machines typically fall into two categories disc or wheel driven machines or arm pitching machines. Disc or wheel driven machines are more prevalent and include a pitching head having either one motor driven wheel or two counter-rotating motor driven wheels that engage a ball and project the ball toward an awaiting batter. Arm driven machines typically use an elongate arm that rotates about a pivot axis. The arm is typically spring loaded and includes a mechanism for allowing the stored energy in the spring to rapidly rotate the arm at a particular point in the rotation of the arm, typically soon after the pitching arm acquires a ball.
Arm pitching machines are preferred by many players because the arm release motion is closer to an actual pitch thrown by a pitcher than a ball being propelled from a disc or wheel driven machine. Arm pitching machines are often configured to hold a large number of balls, or attach to a feed tray with a large number of balls. The arm pitching machines typically rotate about an axis and acquire a ball from a ball retrieval location or assembly. Typically, after a few degrees of continued rotation about the axis at typically a fairly constant speed, the spring energy is released and the arm is driven quickly about the pivot axis resulting in the pitching of the ball from the pitching machine toward a batter. This pitch cycle is then typically repeated at some time interval for a next ball, and additional balls thereafter.
However, arm pitching machines do have some drawbacks. For example, during a baseball game, most batters typically load or prepare for the pitched ball during the pitcher's windup and then are prepared to execute their swing efficiently and effectively. If a batter does not have time to load or prepare, the batter can be caught off guard, off balance or in an inefficient batting position and thereby have a decreased chance of making solid contact with the ball and maximizing the potential of his or her swing. If a batter loads too early (such as before a pitcher begins his or her windup), the batter can lose focus, become distracted or even experience some level of fatigue. Accordingly, batters when working with pitching machines, and especially arm pitching machines, will attempt to prepare for the pitch by adapting to the time interval of the pitch cycle of the pitching machine. This practice is difficult to perfect, and can be tedious or even frustrating to batters. Many batters prepare or load too early or too late, and some machines have some variability in the interval of the pitch cycle which further increases the difficulty of properly timing the next pitch from a pitching machine. When a batter does not accurately adjust to the interval of the pitching machines pitch cycle, the batter's effectiveness decreases because he or she can find himself or herself preparing too early or too late for the pitch, or having both occur in the same practice session.
Indeed the entire purpose of using a pitching machine (for example, to improve the batter's swing and/or hitting ability) can be negated by a batter's inability to properly time the pitch cycle of a particular pitching machine. Therefore, what is needed is a pitching machine that can provide an easy, effective and repeatable way of providing an indication of when the pitch is about to leave the pitching machine. It would be advantageous to have an arm pitching machine that can provide a signal to the batter that could simulate the approximate time frame of a pitcher's windup. It would be beneficial to provide such a feature in a cost effective, reliable and easy to recognize manner. What is needed is a pitching machine that can allow a batter to readily time the pitched ball from the pitching machine.
Arm pitching machines have other drawbacks. The pitching arm of arm pitching machines typically include some structure for receiving the ball before the spring energy or other pitch generating force is applied to the pitching arm to pitch the ball toward the batter. These structures are typically referred to as throwing hands and can take many forms, and can be critical to producing an accurate pitch. Accuracy is a critical characteristic of a pitching machine. Batters often want to focus on hitting a ball in a particular location or portion of the strike zone. Batters also typically want to know that the pitch coming from the pitching machine will be a strike, and/or will be in the location they intend. Some existing throwing hands are constructed with a continuous or sharp curve along their longitudinal or major dimension. Such curved shapes can induce an undesirable back spin on the ball that can change the trajectory of the ball causing it to drift upward away from the intended target. Other throwing hands are constructed such that minimal contact exists between the ball and the throwing hand. For example, a throwing hand constructed with a pair of projecting ridges upon which the ball rests before being thrown results in the ball contacting the throwing hand along essentially two lines of contact. Such limited contact reduces the accuracy and control of the pitched ball.
Accordingly, there is a need for a throwing hand design of a pitching arm of an arm pitching machine that provides improved contact with the ball and maximizes the accuracy of the pitched ball. What is needed is a pitching arm and throwing hand construction that provides repeatable accurate pitches in the location desired by the batter or person (coach or manager) operating the pitching machine.
Further, arm pitching machines typically are configured to pitch one ball at a time from a feed tube or hopper containing numerous balls. Typically, the balls are gravity fed through a feed tube to the location where the throwing hand picks up the lowest ball. As a result, the group of balls is aligned in the tube with one ball contacting or bearing against the ball below it. This continues all the way to the lowest ball, which is typically the ball that is retrieved or picked up by the pitching arm. The weight of the balls above the lowest ball applies a force against, or side load to, the lowest ball that can cause the lowest ball to fall from the throwing hand of the pitching arm or move in an undesirable manner on the pitching arm before the pitching arm propels the ball out of the machine. This side load can reduce the repeatability and reliability of the pitching machine and can require an operator to stop the pitching machine to retrieve those balls that fall from the throwing hand. The side load can also negatively affect the accuracy of the pitched ball because the side load causes the lowest ball to shift or otherwise in an undesirable manner as it is picked up. This shifting or movement of the ball can inhibit the smooth pitching of the ball from the machine and therefore the accuracy of the pitched ball.
Accordingly, there is a need for an arm pitching machine capable of pitching multiple balls one at a time to have a feed system that eliminates the side load or force on the lowest ball from the group of balls next in line for pitching.